I had a friend who knew me very well where I used to live. He was like a best friend. We had alot in common. Our blindness to one another included...if that makes any sense. I sometimes reflect on how much fun we had and wonder why we didn't end up together as a couple, then I read my favorite poem and the reason is clear. I just appreciate the good times we had.
While I was decorating his deck area around the pool to look like a Mexican beer joint (FYI...It Rocked!) he brought me a poem that was in a book he was reading. He said, "I thought you might like this, it's about people like us." He was right.
It has remained a favorite since then...
The Double Life
While I was decorating his deck area around the pool to look like a Mexican beer joint (FYI...It Rocked!) he brought me a poem that was in a book he was reading. He said, "I thought you might like this, it's about people like us." He was right.
It has remained a favorite since then...
The Double Life
by Don Blanding
How very simple life would be
If only there were two of me
A Restless Me to drift and roam
A Quiet Me to stay at home.
A Searching One to find his fill
Of varied skies and newfound thrill
While sane and homely things are done
By the domestic Other One.
And that's just where the trouble lies;
There is a Restless Me that cries
For chancy risks and changing scene,
For arctic blue and tropic green,
For deserts with their mystic spell,
For lusty fun and raising Hell,
But shackled to that Restless Me
My Other Self rebelliously
Resists the frantic urge to move.
It seeks the old familiar groove
That habits make. It finds content
With hearth and home -- dear prisonment,
With candlelight and well-loved books
And treasured loot in dusty nooks,
With puttering and garden things
And dreaming while a cricket sings
And all the while the Restless One
How very simple life would be
If only there were two of me
A Restless Me to drift and roam
A Quiet Me to stay at home.
A Searching One to find his fill
Of varied skies and newfound thrill
While sane and homely things are done
By the domestic Other One.
And that's just where the trouble lies;
There is a Restless Me that cries
For chancy risks and changing scene,
For arctic blue and tropic green,
For deserts with their mystic spell,
For lusty fun and raising Hell,
But shackled to that Restless Me
My Other Self rebelliously
Resists the frantic urge to move.
It seeks the old familiar groove
That habits make. It finds content
With hearth and home -- dear prisonment,
With candlelight and well-loved books
And treasured loot in dusty nooks,
With puttering and garden things
And dreaming while a cricket sings
And all the while the Restless One
Insists on more exciting fun,
It wants to go with every tide,
No matter where...just for the ride.
Like yowling cats the two selves brawl
Until I have no peace at all.
One eye turns to the forward track,
The other eye looks sadly back.
I'm getting wall-eyed from the strain,
(It's tough to have an idle brain)
But One says "Stay" and One says "Go"
And One says "Yes," and One says "No,"
And One Self wants a home and wife
And One Self craves the drifter's life.
The Restless Fellow always wins
I wish my folks had made me twins.
It wants to go with every tide,
No matter where...just for the ride.
Like yowling cats the two selves brawl
Until I have no peace at all.
One eye turns to the forward track,
The other eye looks sadly back.
I'm getting wall-eyed from the strain,
(It's tough to have an idle brain)
But One says "Stay" and One says "Go"
And One says "Yes," and One says "No,"
And One Self wants a home and wife
And One Self craves the drifter's life.
The Restless Fellow always wins
I wish my folks had made me twins.
4 comments:
That poem is fantastic. I often think along those lines. But I think I need an entire life just for diving, one for just for travel, one just for reading, one just for sex, one just for the beach, etc. etc.
Not necessarily in that order.
Hey Restless!
Thanks for checking me out. Great poem. That's really true and I never thought about it that way. I love your title 'Sand in my shoes'. Reminds me of the beach and you gotta love that!
Mark...you said not in that order, but I think you hit on some of the most important points.
Renee...the title is from a song by Dido, one of my favorite music artists.
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